Craig Taborn's third
ECM album, 2017's
Daylight Ghosts, is a sophisticated quartet date that finds the pianist deftly balancing his exploratory, classical-influenced jazz with subtle electronics, avant-garde flourishes, and a robust group aesthetic. The album follows
Taborn's previous
ECM release, the 2013 trio effort
Chants, as well as his 2016 project for
John Zorn's Tzadik Records, Flaga: The Book of Angels, Vol. 27. As with those productions,
Daylight Ghosts showcases many of
Taborn's aesthetic interests, from free-leaning group improvisations to ruminative chamber pieces and languid soundscapes. Helping to flesh out
Taborn's musical expeditions are the equally gifted talents of saxophonist/clarinetist
Chris Speed, bassist
Chris Lightcap, and drummer/percussionist Dave King. In many ways, the group works as a kind of modern creative supergroup given the presence of
Speed, a Brooklyn creative jazz veteran and member of many ensembles including
the Claudia Quintet;
Lightcap, a longtime
Taborn and
Matt Wilson associate; and King, one-third of the maverick piano trio
the Bad Plus. Together, they play with a deep sensitivity, backing the lead soloist one minute and interjecting a flurry of asides the next. It's a vibe
Taborn exploits nicely on cuts like the angular "The Shining One" and the buoyantly fractured, Afro-Latinesque "New Glory." Often,
Speed and
Taborn play the melody line in unison for a time before diving off to swim freely under waves of King's skittering percussion and
Lightcap's inquisitive basslines. It's a tactile sound that brings to mind the kinetic movements of a modern dance troupe performing to an
Ornette Coleman tune. Conversely, on "The Great Silence" and his sorrowful reading of
Roscoe Mitchell's "Jamaican Farewell,"
Taborn takes a more drawn-out and cinematic approach, framing
Speed's mournful clarinet with delicate, bell-like piano accents. Similarly, "Subtle Living Equations" begins with a series of measured, harmonically rich chords, only to give way to an unmoored ending section in which
Taborn drops sparkling shards of piano glass onto King's raw-nerve drumming. Elsewhere, he draws upon late-'60s
McCoy Tyner on the title track and evokes an inspired combination of
Kraftwerk's analog robot music and the '70s space jazz of Detroit artists like
Phil Ranelin and
Marcus Belgrave on "Phantom Ratio." At turns unsettling and haunting, yet rife with a brightly dynamic lyricism,
Daylight Ghosts is an endlessly compelling, deeply imagistic album packed with
Taborn's inspired musical juxtapositions. ~ Matt Collar